Minister Under Fire

September 19, 1985

OTTAWA — A million cans of tuna that federal inspectors called rancid and decomposing were released to supermarkets, but Fisheries Minister John Fraser denies any health danger. He told opposition critics in the House of Commons who demanded his resignation that independent laboratory examinations of the tuna, which he ordered, proved it was fit for human consumption. The inspectors decided that ''from an aesthetic point of view it ought not to be sold,'' he said. ''Those inspectors never said in any shape or form that it was any health hazard.'' He said that consideration of jobs at the New Brunswick plant where the fish was packed played no part in the decision.